The Downfall of Alex Rodriguez
The Biogenisis scandal has been a nightmare for baseball. Just another smudge on the credibility of the league as it continues to try and transition its self out of the steroid era. The same era that has made some of the most pivotal records in baseball tainted and greatest milestones irrelevant. Steroids have even clouded the Hall of Fame voting to the point where a generation’s worth of the games greatest players are being cast aside. Yet again the league finds itself in more courtrooms, with more appeals, and thus more, doubt. And yet again, a familiar face is at the heart of it all.
For those of you who don’t follow the baseball headlines, Biogenisis of America was a health clinic operating out of Miami, Florida. It was founded by Anthony Bosch who ran the facility with other members of his family including his father, Dr. Pedro Bosch. The clinic was closed in December of 2012 but by the time that happened, the damage was done.
Early 2013, the Miami New Times obtained documents from a former Biogenisis employee, which linked professional baseball players Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colo, and Yasmani Grandal to the clinic. All of these athletes have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Other players like Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz, and Alex Rodriguez, were possibly tied to the clinic as well. Later in 2013, the MLB sued Bosch and his business partner’s in an attempt to obtain more information. Unfortunately, the MLB would find that a representative of Alex Rodriguez had already purchased his own medical records.
In May of 2013 in order to have his name removed from the lawsuit, Bosch agreed to work with the MLB in their investigation of Alex Rodriguez and the other athletes accused of doping. This led to the largest amount of imposed suspensions in MLB history. Rodriguez received the longest suspension of anyone involved, 211 games. The MLB said that the harsher sentence is short, because they knew Rodriguez was using PED and he deliberately tried to cover it up. Rodriguez was granted the ability to appeal that decision. He did, and was able to play out the rest of the 2013 season.
Out of all the players named in the scandal, Rodriguez was the only one to not reach an agreement with the league. Most of them issued a public apology. This is where he started to lose face with the players and fans. If he had just taken the punishment without tampering evidence he would have received the 50-60 first time offender penalty and would have been able to play out the following season. He was too worried about his legacy, trying to squeeze the last few years out of this career. Adding to that, the 22 plus million dollars the New York Yankees had to pay him if he played in 2014 also helped sway his decision.
Alex Rodriguez was supposed to be the greatest shortstop of all time, the first to hit 800 career home runs, the king of the long ball. Instead, he has become one of the most hated athletes in America and as for his legacy; it is clouded with speculation and doubt. He can kiss the Hall of Fame goodbye. This past week, Rodriguez dropped his lawsuit withthe MLB and will accept his 162 game suspension this upcoming season. Finally waving the white flag, he will be 39 in July and not eligible to play professional baseball again until after his 40th birthday. The Yankees have moved on, they used that money they were going to pay Rodriguez to revamp a team that missed the playoffs this past season, for only the second time in a decade. This biogenesis scandal has been a black mark for baseball and unfortunately, may very well be the final nail in the coffin of Alex Rodriguez.
